Monday, February 19, 2007

For anyone who has never worked in the film industry, I imagine one of the great pleasures of watching movies is to be able to enjoy scenes where Chevrolets, bottles of Aquafina and Budweisers appear on-screen without interrupting the viewer's escapist fantasy. For the rest of us, our loved ones and unfortunate others seated nearby, such product placements prompt involuntary nudges, head wags, eye-rolls and whispered rhetorical ponderings of, "How much do you think they paid for that?" My wife, some guests and I had that experience repeatedly Saturday night watching Michael Bay's "The Island," which I still enjoyed immensely, despite all the jarring, overt product placements.

If you too suffer from acute product placement awareness syndrome, or if you just want to better understand this extremely powerful marketing phenonemon, you're bound to appreciate this year's edition of the annual Product Placement Awards feature from brandchannel and writer Abram Sauer. To give you a taste, here's a list of this year's top category champions.. Brandcameo 2006 Award for Overall Product Placement: Ford. Brandcameo 2006 Lifetime Achievement Award for Product Placement: Everlast. The Coca-Cola Kid Award for Achievement in Title: The Devil Wears Prada. The E.T./Reese's Award for Achievement in Press Coverage: Casino Royale. Brandcameo 2006 Wayne's World Award for Product Placement Placement: Thank You for Smoking. Brandcameo 2006 Award for Best Supporting Support: Belstaff. Brandcameo 2006 Award for Impact: Night at the Museum

Be sure to check-out the feature itself for the rest of the winners and Abram's interesting analysis. Beyond defining Best Practices in this glamorous field of marketing, the information is sure to add color to our whispered musings when next we experience cinematicus interruptus courtesy of Ford and company....